Gore Bests Bush In CBS News Poll

Presidential debate watchers came away with the impression that Vice President Al Gore won the debate against Texas Governor George W. Bush. Over half - 56 percent - of debate watchers feel that Gore won the debate, while 42 percent think Bush did the better job.

Both candidates improved their image somewhat with voters through the debate. Thirty-five percent of those voters who watched the debate say that their image of Bush has changed for the better as a result. Gore saw a similar gain in post-debate popularity, with 32 percent saying their image of Gore had changed for the better as a result of the debate. Roughly one in five voters who saw the debate say they have lowered their opinions of each candidate as a result.

Bush made only marginal progress, however, in another key area - the perception that he is not prepared to be president.

In the post-debate poll, 54 percent said Bush was well prepared for the job of president. This shows only slight improvement from a CBS News/New York Times poll earlier this week in which 49 percent of voters said they thought Bush was well prepared for the job. In contrast, seven in ten voters said both now and earlier this week that Gore is well prepared for the job.

Vote preferences have changed little as a result of the debate. In a pre-debate survey, Gore had a four-point edge over Bush, 46-42 percent. Among debate watchers, Gore gained a few points, but Bush held his own. Fifty percent of debate watchers support Gore, 42 percent support Bush.

This CBS News poll was conducted online by Knowledge Networks among a nationwide random sample of 812 registered voters. Knowledge Networks polled a sample of registered voters in its household panel, which is a nationally representative sample of households given access to the Internet via Web TV. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points for results based on the entire sample, and 4 points for results among those who watched the debates.